Dreaming of Snow

Studio: Ethnicity Films/Metro
Director: David Aaron Clark
Cast: Annie Cruz, Brian Surewood, Cris Taliana, Heidi Ho, Kylie Rey, Mila Yung, Mr. Hentai, Mr. Marcus, Kammy, Sabrine Maui, Sledge Hammer, Sylvio Mata, Tami Lynn, Tyler Knight, Veronica Lynn

Portions of this review originally appeared on Fleshbot

David Aaron Clark, who worked in New York for earlier incarnations of Screw and Genesis magazines and wrote for various smut publications on the west coast before trying his hand at directing adult fare, is a pervert. He is also one of the smartest, most thoughtful men in the porn business, which tortures him.

This combination allows Clark to effectively articulate his fetishes, one of which is Asian women, and present them in a way that makes you say “I get it”. His low budget, made-on-a-Mac movies are little works of unaffected, earnest, painstaking art in which beauty, humor, regret, boobies, and creepiness vie for the viewer’s attention.

“You just have that tragic look that just translates so well,” Clark says to Tami Lynn at the beginning of this compilation. As offstage gonzo director dialogue, that works a hell of a lot better than “Fuck. You’ve got great tits.” While emotion has overwhelmed me to often utter the latter, good porn deserves more of the former.

“I pretty much almost never make a mistake,” says Lynn, about to be taken aback by Clark standby Mr. Marcus. Longtime partner in crime Brian Surewood also makes a few appearances.

“Then what are you doing here?” Clark asks. The movie (full title: Dreaming of Snow: The Best of David Aaron Clark’s Existential AZN Girl Gonzo) is chock full of unsanitized moments between an older man and the much younger women he photographs, sometimes in his apartment in L.A.’s Koreatown but also in swankier, less-realistic places, like Beverly Hills. Clark is unabashed in his affection for these women, talking to them like he can’t believe his luck but also that he will go to Hell for it.

This puts the women at ease, humanizes them. Sometimes it freaks them out.

Conversations with his subjects paint an accurate picture of the parasitic side of the adult industry.

“You have no idea how ambitious I am,” Clark is told by Kylie Rey. “I will do just about anything for money.”

“I support entrepreneurship 100 percent,” Clark responds. He later persuades her to scoop ice cream out of her vagina. She really is ambitious. He asks her if she’s a Republican.

In alternating scenes, we see performers having fun or cashing a check.

“Are you looking forward to getting fucked?” Clark asks Heidi Ho, owner of the Best Asian Porn Name Ever (other than Hoochie Maguchi).

“I guess,” she says.

“I guess?”

Later Mr. Marcus advises Kammy to throw her arms up in the air and shout “I wanna be a star” as he fucks her. She does. That scene should definitely adorn the promotional material for the Porn Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Through it all – as it is through most of Clark’s gonzo movies – his plummy basso profundo resonates offscreen like he’s a member of the World’s Seamiest Barbershop Quartet.

You might see some contradictions in this site’s coverage of what we call the Gonzo Gaze. Some directors batter the talent and assault their audience with their boorish commentary. The impression I’m left with is that, for those directors, the movie is about them. For Clark it’s about the performers, even if he’s the one getting the blowjob.